


flightless

by karasun013 (Amiria_Raven)



Series: flightless crows [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: A Bit of Fluff, Car Accident, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, M/M, Slight pining, minor description of car accident and injuries, yes my dudes hinata gets hit by a car
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-07-01 15:07:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15776556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amiria_Raven/pseuds/karasun013
Summary: A moment later, Shouyou felt almost...weightless.The lights trembled above him in that strange, distant way as the sensation of falling sank in, followed by pain that flared in his shoulder and neck, and the darkness engulfed him.OR:The one where Hinata Shouyou gets hit by a car on his bike ride home, and no one knows about it until sometime the next morning.





	flightless

**Author's Note:**

> TW FOR MINOR DESCRIPTION OF HINATA GETTING HIT BY A CAR.
> 
> If you're worried about that, skip to the first line break and start reading from there! No graphic descriptions of blood or gore are included, just of sprains and such.
> 
> My second Haikyuu!! fic is raring to go my dudes, so I hope you like this little dose of kagehina hurt/comfort!

Shouyou groaned when he checked his phone only to find that it had died sometime during practice.

He and Kageyama had stayed late again, and while he’d texted his mom and told her that he’d either be late or stay at Kageyama’s and told her not to wait up, he kind of felt bad that he couldn’t tell her his actual decision now. In hindsight, he probably should have gone over to Kageyama’s like he’d originally planned, but he didn’t really want to go another day sharing textbooks since he’d forgotten his at home. Unfortunately, he’d already told Kageyama he’d head home, and they’d parted ways. It would feel kind of foolish to turn back now, and probably kind of rude to do so without at least calling or texting first, so he shoved his phone in his pocket and mounted his bike.

It was a lot darker out than it usually was when Shouyou biked home, but for his last birthday, Ukai had given him a stronger light for his handlebars than the cheap one he’d had before. Shouyou had been fine so far, so what was a trek home just a little bit later than usual? Definitely eerie, but he’d been doing this trip for a year and a half now and he wasn’t going to let a little bit of rustling in the trees or something scare him off.

He usually didn’t see many cars on the nights he headed home late, anyway. Most people were already at home, finishing their dinner like normal, functioning members of society instead of volleyball-obsessed high school boys that lost track of time at extra practice. The cars he did see always went slower than what he thought the speed limit was, and sometimes stopped to ask if he needed a ride.

The car he saw that night, he _didn’t_.

Shouyou heard it, distantly, and made sure he was off to the side of the road. Something was off, but he couldn’t place what it was until suddenly, lights were blinding him and his bike wobbled beneath him.

“What the–!”

The screech of tires sounded loudly in his ears as he felt his bike pitch underneath him. The light tumbled and for a moment he thought it was his handlebar light falling before he realized that _he_ was falling. The next few moments passed in a panicked blur. Everything around him turned hazy as he realized with a sickening jolt that he had just been _hit by a car_.

His side struck pavement. His foot twisted where it was stuck between the pedal and his bike. He rolled to his back.

The car’s momentum pulled him forward for what seemed like feet but could only be inches. A second, maybe two. He could feel the way the pavement scraped against his back until it jarred his foot free. He cried out–probably not the first time–and tumbled again. He flopped heavily over on his other side and rolled again. He felt grass beneath his skin, sharp and prickling.

A moment later, Shouyou felt almost...weightless.

The lights trembled above him in that strange, distant way as the sensation of falling sank in, followed by pain that flared in his shoulder and neck, and the darkness engulfed him.

* * *

 

Tobio knew his good days from his bad days, especially where volleyball was concerned.

It had _felt_ like it could be a good day, when he first rolled out of bed. He was a little tired from staying late at practice with Hinata for the third time in the last week, but it was nothing he wasn’t used to. It was a good sort of ache, anyway, because it meant that he was working and striving to be better. And, when they worked together as hard as they had been, Tobio was constantly privy to the bursts of growth in his middle blocker.

Tobio didn’t think Hinata would play wing spiker next year, either, but he could certainly be a center ace. He and Tanaka were practically rivals for the team’s ace position anyway, though no one would tell Tanaka that. He had power behind his spikes and the ability to blast through blocks better than Hinata did, but Hinata had the agility and even reflexes to outsmart them in the air. When they worked late into the night on Hinata’s spikes and Tobio’s tosses, though, he couldn’t help but feel that he was improving even more rapidly than Tobio was.

He was envious.

Despite that, Tobio still looked forward to continuing where they left off when he arrived early for morning practice. It was an unspoken rule at that point, that Ennoshita would be there with the door already open as early as six but no earlier, so that the volleyball lunatics could get in early and get more practice in. The captain was nothing if not diligent, especially where the two involved in Karasuno’s deadliest weapon were concerned.

When Ennoshita looked up from setting up the net with Kinoshita, he raised an eyebrow in surprise.

“Hinata’s not with you?”

Tobio blinked, then frowned a little.

“You mean he’s not here, already?”

Ennoshita laughed incredulously, as if he didn’t believe that Tobio and Hinata were ever apart. It was kind of true, in a way, but Hinata had decided to go home last night because he’d forgotten his textbooks for two days in a row and his classmate was getting tired of sharing with him.

Kageyama kind of wished they were in the same class again, so that he could share with Hinata instead. But that was a thought to be pushed back into the far reaches of his mind, kept under lock and key behind the part that could focus on the fact that Hinata was an irreplaceable part of Karasuno’s volleyball team, and Tobio’s personal growth in the sport. If he could hide behind that truth, he could ignore that he might have started feeling something more for his friend and teammate, and Noya would stop giving him that knowing look he sometimes had. The look that screamed _I know you have a crush on Shouyou,_ tormenting him when Tobio didn’t even want to admit it to himself.

“Hinata said he was going to go home last night instead of staying over again,” Tobio shrugged, tapping his toes to make sure his gym shoes were on nice and tight. He adjusted his kneepads and frowned at the floor. “He forgot to text me when he got home again.”

“Shouyou’d forget his own head if it wasn’t attached!” Noya bounced in, laughing as he pulled on his own gym shoes while bouncing excitedly on one foot.

“You’re one to talk,” a slightly groggy Narita who trailed in after Noya managed to grumble. Tanaka, right behind him, snorted.

“Well, if he’s late it just means that I get more tosses this morning, right, Kageyama?!” he asked, beaming. “Remember that one time he forgot what day it was because he’d studied so much the night before?”

“He didn’t make morning practice that day, either,” Ennoshita agreed with a chuckle. “Anyway, while we’re waiting we should start our stretches!”

“Yessir!” Noya and Tanaka both chimed, boisterous as ever, and Tobio nodded with a grunt of agreement.

It had felt like a good day when he got up, but when Hinata didn’t show up for practice and Tobio never got a text message complaining that he’d woken up late, or that he was sick, or any other excuse or reason, it turned sour pretty quickly.

Morning practice ended, and the volleyball club went their separate ways to class. Tobio wasn’t really up to sitting through classes after the lackluster morning, but he knew he had to keep his grades up. Maybe he’d visit Hinata after class, if he really was sick, and they could work on their homework together. They both really needed it, after all.

Between his first and second class, while he checked his phone again and ignored his surroundings, he caught a glimpse of motion outside. When he turned, he almost didn’t believe what he was seeing.

Ukai Keishin, rushing into the school building in the middle of the day, deep in conversation with Takeda-sensei. Tobio felt his brow furrow. Ukai was never really around before practice, since he had to work at Sakanoshita, and he looked a bit harried. Something was wrong, then, and Tobio didn’t know _what_.

Did Nekoma suddenly cancel Karasuno’s invite to training camp? Was Karasuno, for some reason, going to be banned from the tournaments? Did Coach Ukai collapse again?

The chatter of his classmates around him suddenly seemed deafening.

“... _id you hear? Some kid got hit by a car!_ ”

“ _Eh?! Are they okay?”_

_“I don’t know, my older brother just asked if I was okay, since they didn’t release a name in the news statement.”_

_“Your mom would have told him if it was you.”_

_“Haha, yeah, that’s true!”_

“In your seats!”

He jumped when the teacher clapped her hands, glancing around at the class. Her eyes met Tobio’s and then she looked away, more quickly than he thought she had any reason to, and something lodged firmly in his throat. Tobio didn’t know what, or why, but there was something that seemed so very, very wrong about today.

He opened his hand on his desk, examined his knuckles and his slim fingers. Tobio ignored the fact that they were trembling, just a little, and squeezed his hand into a fist. Then he turned his hand over to look at his palm and repeated the motion.

It really felt like there was something wrong.

Tobio didn’t even pay attention when the lesson started. Normally, Yoshida-sensei was good at picking up on that kind of inattention, but today she didn’t call on him or single him out, and he wondered why. She wasn’t shy about it.

 _Was Karasuno really banned from going to the tournaments_? Tobio mused, eyes fixed on a single spot in his textbook. The faculty would definitely know about that, if they had been, and it would probably be a reason for her to temporarily overlook him. She wouldn’t want to be the one that had to tell him, probably.

_...Am I going to be kicked off the team for failing that last quiz?!_

That...suddenly that seemed a little more likely. And it might cause Karasuno’s chances at victory to take a hit. It was something that the revived crows couldn’t really handle at this stage of the game, though, and he’d been doing better in his studies than ever before with Yachi’s help.

And yet...it still didn’t feel right. There was something off, and he didn’t think it had anything to do with him. It was a weird thought, but one that Tobio couldn’t shake.

And then, a little over halfway through the class, the door slid open without a knock and without preamble. Yoshida-sensei looked up, as did most of the class, to find a slightly breathless, nervous-looking Yachi Hitoka standing in the doorway.

“I-I-I’m sorry, Yoshida-sensei!” she bowed after her loud apology, then continued with her face to the floor and her voice too fast. “I’m sorry, but I need Kageyama-kun to c-come with me! Th-there’s an important meeting for the v-volleyball club!”

Tobio stared blankly at Yachi, who trembled visibly in the doorway.

Yoshida-sensei sighed, and he figured she’d complain or make him wait until after class, but instead she looked straight at him with that strange look on her face.

“Kageyama, gather your things and go with Yachi,” she said after only a few short moments, defeated. “There is no assignment tonight, so just study what you can and find me tomorrow or later this week if you have any questions.”

“Y-yes, sensei!” Tobio answered on reflex. He shoved everything unceremoniously into his bag and pulled it over his shoulder as he made his way out of the room. All eyes were on him and he quickened his pace until he was standing beside a fidgeting Yachi in the hallway with the door closed behind him. He swallowed past the unease rising in his throat and asked, tentatively, “Yachi-san, do you know what’s going on?”

She shook her head no.

“N-not exactly? They said there’s been an emergency of some sort, and they wanted to gather the team as soon as possible. Takeda-sensei warned all the teachers before class, apparently, which is why they were all a little slower getting into the classrooms than usual. H-he was just waiting for C-coach to get here.”

Yachi didn’t stutter that bad around him anymore, so it was a testament to how nervous she was feeling. It confirmed his unease, somehow.

Something about today was still very off.

“A-anyway, we need to stop for Tsukishima-kun and Yamaguchi-kun! You can go ahead i-if you want–”

“I’ll stay with you,” Tobio said without thinking, but way the tension in her shoulders visibly eased a little was reason enough. If he was being honest with himself, Tobio didn’t think he wanted to face whatever this situation was without the rest of the team with him. Even if that meant dealing with that smug bastard Tsukishima.

“ _Thank you_ ,” Yachi breathed, almost so softly that he couldn’t hear it, but he hummed in response and they walked over to the classroom that the other two second years shared.

This time Yachi remembered to knock, and the teacher called for her to enter. She stammered the same thing she’d told Yoshida-sensei–that she needed Yamaguchi and Tsukishima for an emergency volleyball club meeting–and they were told to gather their bags and leave. Something was very, very wrong for the teachers to all let them leave early _and_ tell them to take their things. It was almost like they didn’t expect the volleyball club to come back to class, which didn’t seem right when it was only almost lunch time.

Tobio didn’t like it. Something didn’t bode well.

“What do you think it is?” Yamaguchi asked, his tone nervous, when he and Tsukishima stood in the hall with Yachi and Tobio.

“The idiot duo probably flunked too many classes,” Tsukishima sneered, and Tobio resisted the urge to snap back at him when he realized how high his shoulders were. Yamaguchi scolded him, anyway.

“Tsukki, stop it!” he elbowed the middle blocker, scowling. “It’s got to be more serious than that!”

“Don’t say that!” Yachi nearly yelled, then covered her mouth quickly. “I’m sorry! I just mean–I don’t want it to be something serious. It would be better if it was someone failing a class, right?”

“They probably wouldn’t pull us all out of class for that,” Tobio frowned. “Just the ones that failed.”

She whined, deep in her throat, and Yamaguchi groaned. Tsukishima just sighed a little, but he didn’t offer another scathing comment. A testament to how very wrong this situation was. Tobio wasn’t comfortable with this situation at all, and he didn’t know how to handle the tension in the air. That was Tanaka’s job, or Nishinoya’s, or even Hinata’s job. They were definitely the moodmakers, and Tobio could really use Hinata’s _Bakageyama_ comments right now. A jab and laughter and they’d be arguing about it, instead of walking in this tense quiet, following Yachi.

“Where’s the meeting at?” Yamaguchi finally spoke up again after clearing his throat awkwardly.

“I-in the club room!” Yachi answered, glancing back over her shoulder. “Takeda-sensei said it might be cramped, but that he’d feel more comfortable talking to everyone there.”

 _Comfortable_? Tobio thought, his suspicions instantly rising even higher. From the raised eyebrow Tsukishima directed at him, Tobio realized that he’d said it out loud, and Yamaguchi whined in the back of his throat.

Then, Yamaguchi said what Tobio was sure they were all feeling, even if he and Tsukishima were too proud to admit it.

“I’m scared…”

Yachi smacked him in the arm and then whined, “Don’t say that! I was hoping I was the only one that was worried. If _everyone’s_ worried then that means there’s a _reason_ to be this worried, and I don’t want there to be a reason!”

“I’m sorry, Yacchan,” Yamaguchi frowned, chastised, and stepped up next to her to rub her back a little. “I couldn’t help it!”

“I know,” she hung her head a little, taking a shaky breath.

“Maybe we’re overthinking things,” offered Tsukishima, though his flat tone implied the opposite. He, too, was worried.

Tobio still couldn’t shake that foreboding feeling.

When the group of second years stepped outside, on their way to the club room, they ran into the third years, led by team captain Ennoshita.

“Oi! You guys!” Tanaka waved and came over to drop his arm around Tobio’s shoulders. “Why are you so tense?”

“Tanaka,” Ennoshita scolded stiffly, glancing back at the school building. “Keep your voice down. Others are still in class.”

“Aw, Chikara!” Nishinoya whined, looking up at the building. “We’re outside, what harm can it do?”

“Nah, Noya, we should probably listen to our team captain,” Tanaka groaned, his weight sagging obnoxiously on Tobio’s shoulder. He grunted and raised his shoulder, trying to shake the third year off, but Tanaka just snorted. “C’mon, Kageyama, give me this much. I’m probably about to be kicked off the team.”

Kinoshita let out a tired chuckle. “C’mon, Tanaka, not that again. You know they wouldn’t call us all out for that.”

“That’s exactly what we thought,” Yamaguchi agreed, glancing back over at Tobio.

“I’m scared!” Yachi warbled a little, and Yamaguchi leaned forward to rub her shoulder again. “I don’t want something to actually be worried about, but everyone’s worried and all the teachers keep looking at us funny and I don’t know why and I’m _scared_!” she threw her hands up, and then drew them in to bury her face. Her shoulders were shaking.

Something felt very wrong.

“We’re all worried,” Nishinoya’s voice was a lot calmer than expected, and Yachi hiccuped. “We’re all worried, Hitoka-chan! But that’s why we’ve got to stay positive for now, y’know? Just in case everything’s alright and we’re all just thinking a little too much! C’mon, guys, you tell her, too!”

“Noya’s right,” Tobio said, carefully.

“Yeah!” Tanaka agreed, loudly.

“Let’s get to the club room and see if the first years are there,” Ennoshita prodded, putting a hand on Yachi’s other shoulder. “Try not to worry yourself too much before we get there, okay?”

“O-okay,” she squeaked, but Tobio figured the damage was already done. And now that Yachi had panicked even further, he felt the lump in his throat grow. He was extremely nervous, and that nagging feeling of wrongness he’d had all day was only growing stronger with each passing moment. Tobio wasn’t used to facing that feeling without Hinata by his side, but the fact that Yachi hadn’t fetched him meant that he probably still hadn’t shown up to class. Maybe his bike ride to school in the rain three days prior had finally caught up to him and he was still sleeping it off, or something, but regardless of whatever kept him away, his absence felt wrong too.

The Karasuno volleyball club ran into their first years near the stairs to the club room and they all climbed together in silence. Tobio could only assume that the first years were as nervous as the older members, and he wished they had someone as collected as Suga to diffuse the situation...whatever this situation was.

Ukai was pacing outside the room when they arrived and looked up, almost as if he’d been surprised.

“Oh, it’s everyone,” his tone was almost hoarse, and he cleared his throat. “Into the club room. Takeda-sensei’s waiting there.”

Nishinoya opened his mouth. “Hey, coach, why–”

“Into the club room,” Ukai cut him off. His voice was rough. “We’ll explain inside, okay? Just...please, get in the club room.”

The second and third years stared hard at their coach and knew, without a doubt, that something was wrong. Ukai didn’t lose his composure like that, and it was unsettling to say the least. His hair was in disarray, and as Tobio passed him he watched the coach run a hand through it haphazardly, as if he was distressed.

It wasn’t right. None of this was right.

Tobio wanted Hinata there.

They filed into the club room at Ukai’s plea, though. Everyone dropped their bags and started slumping to the floor, leaving the two sad chairs in the room for the coaches, and Tobio tried to swallow back the rising unease. Yachi ended up fidgeting by the door before Takeda told her to come in and take a seat, too, and then she sat between Tobio and Yamaguchi. He could practically feel her trembling, and he wished once more that he was better with people. Instead, he leaned his shoulder lightly into hers and she pressed back, trying to steady herself with a careful breath.

The club room filled with tense silence not unlike part of the walk here, and there was absolutely no way to shake the sense that something was amiss. Not now. Takeda’s face was way too serious, to withdrawn, too _worried_ , and Ukai’s wasn’t much different.

“Sensei–” Tanaka started slowly, but Takeda held up a hand.

“Just...give me another minute, Tanaka.”

The lump in Tobio’s throat sank to the pit of his stomach, coalescing into a solid sense of dread. Ukai’s fists were tight atop his knees, and he looked like he just wanted to blurt it all out. He was waiting, though, for Takeda to compose himself. Takeda was leaning forward in his chair, hands clasped so tightly together that his knuckles had turned white, and it was not a look that Tobio ever wanted to see on the cheerful teacher’s face.

Any little sound in the room seemed magnified tenfold by the weighted silence, but no one could pull their eyes away from the front. Yachi drew her knees up to her chest, and without hesitation Tsukishima leaned over Yamaguchi to push Yamaguchi’s bag in front of her legs. She flushed and a small noise escaped, but otherwise there were no sounds or movement aside from tense, bated breaths.

Takeda cleared his throat.

“Last night there was an accident,” he finally announced to the room. His tone was soft, but it seemed to boom through the room. He cleared his throat again and fidgeted with his fingers before looking around to meet the eyes of each member. The silence stretched again, though the first to react was Yachi.

She gasped, her hands rising to her face, and she whispered, forcefully, _“No_.”

Tsukishima tensed next, at the same time as Ennoshita.

The conversation from class, the one that Tobio had ignored, rose from the depths of his mind. It was hazy and unclear, but it was there. Something about getting hit by a car...Takeda’s mention of an accident last night.

Pieces started falling into place, and then suddenly Tobio was lurching to his feet, panic rushing through his veins.

_I want Hinata by my side._

_Where is Hinata?!_

“Hinata,” he forced out through the way his throat was tightening. It was strangled and breathless, and the motion through the room was instant. A ripple of understanding, of panic, rolled around the room, but no one raised their voice. Wide, panicked eyes all stared at the coaches in the front of the room.

Closing his eyes, Ukai nodded. “Hinata,” his tone was hoarse.

“His condition is stable,” Takeda interjected quickly, glancing back around the room and wringing his fingers again. “His injuries are not serious, but he was still unconscious when his mother called us an hour ago. We’re told that a car was speeding around a corner and didn’t see Hinata on his bike until it was too late.”

Yachi choked on a sob, and Yamaguchi instantly reached to rub her back even with the terror written on his own face.

“It took them a while to get to him,” Ukai added, his tone much more withdrawn than anyone was used to. “He took a short fall off the side of the road, and while the paramedics were able to get down to him quickly, they couldn’t get him back up until a small rescue team arrived. It took them until this morning to find where his bag fell and gather contact information.”

Tobio caught himself on a locker with a loud _crash_ as he swayed, but no one said anything. Everyone was too busy trying to process the same information– _Hinata Shouyou had been hit by a car_.

 _Hinata_.

 _I should have made him stay the night_.

“You couldn’t have predicted it, Kageyama,” Ukai said sharply, and Tobio realized with a start that he’d said that out loud. He’d been bad at hiding his feelings today, it seemed.

“But I–”

“No buts, Tobio!” Nishinoya declared boldly, and he was on his feet by Kageyama in moments. When had he even stood up? “It isn’t your fault, so blaming yourself isn’t going to get us anywhere, and it’s definitely not gonna help Shouyou get better!” He tugged on Kageyama’s arm and insisted, “Besides, the coaches aren’t done talking, so sit back down and listen some more, and then we’ll skip classes to go visit him!”

“Noya, don’t say that in front of Takeda-sensei!” Tanaka hissed, but Takeda let out a weary laugh.

“Today’s an exception,” he said, flexing his fingers. Takeda looked around the room again at length, before explaining himself. “We’ve already made preparations to excuse you from the rest of your classes for the day. We didn’t want to keep this from you, or for someone else to tell you before you could hear it from us. It’s a bit unorthodox, I admit, but we wanted to make sure that everyone had the chance to go see Hinata.”

“The vice principal didn’t like it,” Ukai offered with a shrug. “But I don’t care what that baldy thinks.”

“ _Ukai-kun!_ ” Takeda hissed, appalled, but there were some snickers in the room. The tension eased just a little, but Tobio was still having trouble drawing in his breaths.

 _Hinata_.

“So what are we waiting for?” Nishinoya asked, hands on his hips. “Why aren’t we already at the hospital?”

With a sheepish grin, Takeda scratched the back of his neck. “The bus won’t be here for twenty more minutes.”

“The...bus?” Narita asked, slowly.

Tanaka started laughing and scrambled to his feet to clap Takeda on the back enthusiastically. “Take-chan, don’t tell me you finally spent your savings for the volleyball club like you threatened to all last year?”

“We actually split the cost,” Ukai snorted. “Now sit back down. We’ve got a few more things to talk about.”

 _The tournaments?_ Tobio wondered, some of the unease lifting. They wouldn’t have relaxed so much if Hinata was very seriously injured, he tried to tell himself. So his injuries really were mild, and he’d be okay–but that didn’t mean that Tobio wanted to be without him for very long. It was already torture having gone half a day without him, or even a text from him.

Takeda picked up a stabled stack of papers from next to his bed and shuffled through them.

“In the information that Hinata’s mother sent me,” he said slowly, rifling through, “the early test results indicate that Hinata has a few fractured or broken ribs, several bruises and lacerations, and a sprained ankle. They want to run a few more tests to check on his left shoulder, but they think it’s just sprained as well.”

There were a few sharp breaths. Tobio tried to remember all about how those injuries could affect his play and how long Hinata would have to be out, but it seemed like Hinata’s mother and Takeda had already covered that.

“Hinata will be out for an absolute minimum of six weeks,” he announced, and the silence in the room was palpable.

Hinata wouldn’t be able to play in the Spring High. It was in three weeks, and he’d only be part of the way through his recovery. The implications of that were obvious to everyone in the room.

“Well, we’ll all just have to work harder,” Nishinoya crossed his arms defiantly. “We’ll have Shouyou cheering us on, you know! We can’t let him down!”

The first years were drawn in immediately, agreeing loudly.

Tobio knew that Hinata would be upset over missing the tournament, though. He’d be upset that he would be out of practice for more than a day or two, honestly, and Hinata was hard enough to deal with at the end of last year when he’d had that cold and wouldn’t rest to get over it faster until he was forced to.

“He won’t like sitting out,” Ennoshita observed, summarizing what Tobio had been thinking.

“He won’t have a choice,” Ukai shot back. “His recovery comes first, and if he won’t sit still to get better, then I’ll personally see to it that he’s banned from even sitting in on practices until he’s fully healed.”

“He’d find a way to sneak in, anyway,” Tsukishima snorted. “He’s a volleyball freak, you know.”

“As if you aren’t,” Yamaguchi shot back, elbowing him.

“I-I’ll make sure he doesn’t overexert!” Yachi exclaimed, tearfully, when she finally lifted her face from her knees. Nishinoya bounced over to ruffle her hair.

“That’s our reliable manager!” he crowed, beaming. “We’ve got nothing to worry about!”

The coaches were looking on, faces pinched and a little drawn but now there was a trace of amusement etched there, softening their tense features. Tobio wondered at that, but his mind was awhirl, and he leaned his head back against the lockers and closed his eyes to drown out his surroundings.

Steady breaths. _In, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Out, two, three, four, five, six, seven_.

 _Hinata will be out for the Spring Tournament_. That was information he could deal with. It would be hard–harder than any of their other matches, probably, except maybe last year’s Nationals match against Nekoma–but Tanaka was a capable wing spiker, and they could easily work Narita or Yamaguchi into the starting lineup, since they were technically middle blockers, too. Yamaguchi’s jump floater would be handy, and not having to time when to switch him in or out would be a bonus, but Narita was a steady blocker. They’d work it out. Ukai would have an idea.

 _Hinata will be upset because he has to sit out to recover._ That information was also simple to understand, but Tobio had almost no idea how to handle it. Hinata wouldn’t be allowed to play, that was certain, and until he had permission from his doctors and the coaches, Tobio would have to refuse to toss to him. He was pretty sure Hinata would start asking for tosses as soon as he could move with minimal discomfort, and he’d have to have the mental fortitude to tell him _no_.

It had been hard enough to tell him he wouldn’t toss to him in practice during that one training camp, when they’d started to work on the falling toss. Perhaps this time would be easier, knowing that Hinata’s recovery rested on the ability to keep him from exerting himself too much too fast.

“K-Kageyama-kun?”

He blinked. Tobio sat forward and looked to Yachi, who was staring at him with concern. “Hn?” the noise wasn’t quite what he had intended, but it would have to do now that it had escaped.

“Are you alright?”

What a stupid question. Of course _he_ was fine. He just wanted to see Hinata, but he had to wait. He was doing everything he could to keep himself from snapping at the weird vibe in the room. Even though they knew Hinata was stable, it still made Tobio feel a little uneasy to have some of the team goofing around. He wanted to see Hinata first, before he reverted back to the usual ruckus.

“Yeah,” he answered after a slight pause, when he remembered that Yachi was waiting for it. “I’m fine. Are you?”

She looked surprised at being asked, but after a minute she bit her lip.

“Yeah. I mean, I think so?” she tucked her hair behind her ear and sighed. “I’m still worried, though.”

“We all are,” Yamaguchi imitated Nishinoya’s words from earlier, leaning into the conversation. “At least now...now we know a little more and we can worry about the right things! Right, Tsukki?”

Tsukishima glanced over, then hummed his agreement. No sarcastic comments meant that he wasn’t in the mood to be snarky, so Tobio took that to be his own brand of worry. It was hard to say, with him, but he wasn’t as much of an asshole as he pretended to be so Tobio wasn’t going to let it get to him. Not right now.

“We’ll see him soon,” he heard himself say, glancing towards the clock on the wall. _Twelve more minutes before Takeda-sensei said the bus would be here_.

“If they’ll even let us in,” Tsukishima remarked with too much ease. Tobio was about ready to take back the almost nice things he’d thought about that gangly bastard, but then Tsukishima turned towards the coaches and continued. “They might have a visitor limit, depending on what ward he’s in. Should we organize a visiting rotation?”

“Tobio’s in the first one!” Noya announced instantly, and no one argued.

“I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that,” Ukai interjected, waving his hand. “He’s not in serious condition, so he probably won’t be in one of the wards that are limited like that. But just in case, we’ll just say that the second years are up first, then the third years.”

There was a chorus of agreement, though a few of the first years didn’t seem too happy about going last.

Well. They’d have to wait. They hadn’t known Hinata or been on the team with Hinata for as long as the older students, so Tobio felt no remorse in going before them. In fact, the knowledge that he would get to go first should their rotation be important was all he really needed to know.

Maybe, when he finally saw Hinata, the very, very wrong day would at least average out. It wouldn’t be so wrong, thought it still wouldn’t be a peak performance kind of day. As long as he could see Hinata with his own two eyes, and see that he was okay, Tobio thought he could pull the day back to some imitation of normalcy. But that was mostly hanging on whether or not Hinata was awake, or woke up, while they were there and if they could bicker like usual. Or so he tried to tell himself.

Honestly, just seeing Hinata would help bring his day some semblance of normal.

Tobio really wanted to tug Hinata into a hug and tell him that he was glad he was alright, but things like that had to wait until he actually _knew_ if Hinata was alright, and probably for them to be away from prying eyes. He didn’t really feel comfortable showing any kind of affection in front of other people, and something like that...Tobio didn’t just _hug_ people. Someone would probably realize his feelings if he let anyone but Hinata see how stupid and soft it would be, hugging him.

He held back the groan that threatened, just as Takeda stood from his chair with his phone in hand.

“The bus is here. Let’s go, Karasuno!”

The team cheered in unison, and everyone started grabbing their bags and filing out of the room. Tobio wanted to be there already, but he was still one of the last ones to leave the club room. It was kind of hard, trying to wrap his head around the fact that they would be visiting Hinata in the hospital.

It was hard not to blame himself for not making Hinata stay the night.

As he settled into his seat on the bus, the leaden weight made a home in the pit of his stomach. They’d already told him not to blame himself, of course, but the thought still wouldn’t quite leave his mind.

 _At least we’ll see HInata soon_.

* * *

 

They didn’t actually need their visiting rotation, but Tobio was still the first one to the door after Coach Ukai and Takeda. He caught himself hesitating there, but surprisingly no one was forcing him. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to step foot across the threshold of the room even though they were finally here, though. Tobio wasn’t sure he was ready to see Hinata, of all people, prone on a hospital bed.

And then he heard it.

“Coach…? What’re you doing here?”

It was groggy, a little slow, but that voice was definitely Hinata’s.

 _He’s awake_ had barely crossed his mind before Tobio was surging into the room, eyes casting wildly about until they finally settled upon their goal. There he was, Hinata Shouyou, with a carefully doctored scrape on one cheek, eyes heavily lidded probably from a combination of not being awake for long and from whatever medication they’d given him, and a whole host of other injuries they couldn’t really see by looking.

“We came to check on you, Hinata!” Ukai declared, crossing his arms over his chest. “What else would we be doing here?”

“But...I’m gonna miss practice,” his voice was a little clearer, and he raised one arm, with a wince, to scrub at his face.

“Of course you will, _dumbass_. We already know that,” the words fell out before he could stop himself, and he saw the shock roll through Hinata’s form. His eyes widened and he looked around as frantically as he was able, with his injuries.

“Wait...Kageyama?!”

“It’s not just Kageyama,” his mother brushed his hair back from his face and then stepped away when the rest of the club started filing into the room. His eyes widened, and then he grimaced and his eyes started to shine.

“Shouyou!” Nishinoya exclaimed, jumping in the air when he saw that Hinata was awake.  He bounded to the side of Hinata’s bed, immediately ruffling his hair and beaming at him. “You’re awake! Awesome! How are you feeling?!”

“I’d imagine like he got hit by a car,” Tsukishima observed, with little overall malice.

“Tsukki!” Yamaguchi gasped, elbowing him, but Tanaka roared with laughter and slapped him on the back.

“Maybe show some chill, Tsukishima!” he managed through his laughter, then he turned to where Hinata was scowling at the other middle blocker. “Hey, Hinata, when you get out of here, I’ll buy you some pork buns, okay?”

“And I’ll buy you two popsicles!” Nishinoya chipped in, high fiving Tanaka. “Your senpais have got you covered!”

“Shut _up_ ,” a stern voice rose above the two noisy third years, and Tobio glanced over to Ennoshita. “We’re in a _hospital_ , Tanaka, Noya, so use your inside voices for once in your life.”

“Aye, aye, Cap’n!” Nishinoya saluted, and Tanaka laughed again, though it died when Ennoshita gave him a very deliberate look.

“Anyway, we’re glad to see you awake, Hinata,” Ennoshita turned to him, even as he started wiggling uncomfortably under all the attention he was getting from the team. “I know it’s a silly question,” he glared at Tsukishima, who averted his gaze, “but how are you feeling?”

Tobio watched the way that one of Hinata’s hands clenched in the sheets of his hospital bed, and the way his teeth grazed his lip. He wanted to take away whatever insecurities Hinata was feeling, but he had no clue how.

“It...hurts,” he finally said, frowning. “I mean, I’m kinda like... _woooo_ , or whatever? From the painkillers. But I can just _tell_ it hurts.”

“Hinata-kun,” Yachi’s voice trembled, and Tobio realized that she’d made her way to the bed, between himself and Yamaguchi. Her arm brushed against Tobio’s when she reached forward to cover Hinata’s hand, fisted in his sheets. He blinked up at her, eyes wide and wet. “We’re all here for you, Hinata-kun!”

A chorus of agreement rang through the room.

“But I…” Hinata bit his lip, harder this time. Tobio could tell because the skin around his lip went white from the pressure. At length, tears welling up in his eyes, Hinata forced out, “I won’t be able to play. The tournament’s soon and I…”

“Just worry about getting better,” Takeda finally spoke up after speaking softly with Hinata’s mother to the side for several long moments. “We’ll be here, waiting for you. And we’ll fight as hard as we can for your sake, too.”

Before anyone else could say anything, Tobio stepped up next to Yachi and flicked Hinata in the center of the forehead.

“We’ll just be setting the stage for you to come back.”

There was another round of agreements from the entire team, and Hinata dissolved into tears with a mumbled, “ _Bakageyama!_ ”

Tobio was just glad he got to hear it again.

He was also incredibly lost as for how to deal with a blubbering Hinata when it didn’t have anything to do with a volleyball match, but when Hinata’s hand rose and his fingers clutched at the hem of his uniform jacket, he allowed his own to burrow into Hinata’s flyaway hair for just a moment. After a moment, Hinata pulled a little and Tobio sat on the side of his bed to avoid losing his balance falling on top of him. His own heartbeat was loud in his ears when Hinata leaned forward to press his face to Tobio’s shoulder, and Tobio awkwardly buried his fingers in his hair again.

“No fair, Kageyama!” Tanaka whined. “You’re still a second year! Why are you stealing all the cool parts?”

Tsukishima snorted, earning another elbow from Yamaguchi, and Noya agreed loudly with their ace.

“But…” Hinata’s voice cracked a little against Tobio’s shoulder, but the team wasn’t done yet.

Ennoshita stood tall and declared, “We won’t let them call us flightless again. And even if we struggle, we’ll fight to stay in the running. And we’ll still blow them all away when you come back.”

Tobio ignored Tanaka and Nishinoya when they cheered loudly, for the most part, and focused on Hinata. He had muttered something about _you guys are too much_ into his shoulder, and something else about _stupid Kageyama_ , but his shoulders were still tense and shaking. If he wanted to keep hiding, Tobio would let him. He knew that Ennoshita’s words had been good for him to hear, though, so he shared a nod with the captain before the third year turned to hush the libero and ace.

It had nothing to do with the soft strands of hair between his fingers–that was just an added bonus.

A touch on Tobio’s shoulder drew his attention, and he met the gentle eyes of Hinata’s mother. The rest of the team had stepped back, talking amongst themselves and with the coaches, though Tobio hadn’t realized when.

She pressed her thumb to his forehead, to the crease between his brows, and smoothed it temporarily. With a worn sort of smile, she advised him, “Stop blaming yourself, Tobio-kun.”

He felt his breath lodge in his throat, and he swallowed hard before nodding, tentatively. She ruffled his hair, ignoring his slight scowl, and then allowed her hand to brush her son’s shoulder before she returned to speak with the coaches.

Hinata’s hand tightened in his blazer, and he mumbled, “Listen to her, Bakageyama. ‘S not your fault.”

If it hadn’t been for the sniffle that punctuated Hinata’s words, Tobio might have shot some kind of sharp retort back. But instead, he sighed and fell silent as Hinata’s short bout of tears started to dry up.

* * *

 

“I should have turned around and gone to your house,” Shouyou said suddenly, staring up at his own bedroom ceiling.

It had been two weeks since the accident, and he was still tender and sore but on the mend. The fact that he would be missing the first big tournament of his second year was a hard pill to swallow, but Kageyama seemed to be determined to push that far from his thoughts. And his words in the hospital–something about preparing the next stage for Shouyou–still made him feel warm inside.

“What are you talking about?” Kageyama asked, looking up from the math assignment they had both been working on before Shouyou had flopped back on the floor for a moment, his painkillers too far away and his ribs starting to ache.

“That night. With the car.”

When he closed his eyes, he could still see the sudden lights and hear the screech of tires on the pavement. It sent a chill up his spine.

“I should have turned back and gone to your house, when I saw my phone was dead.”

Kageyama was silent for a few minutes, and Shouyou looked over at him as discreetly as possible. He had that look on his face that told Shouyou he was thinking really hard about his answer before he said it. That was something he’d been doing a lot more lately, Shouyou noticed; thinking before he spoke. Kageyama was usually sharp-tongued, full of scathing comments that Shouyou knew he didn’t always mean. But lately, since maybe a little before the accident, he realized in hindsight, Kageyama had been considering what he said a lot more.

“But you didn’t,” his voice finally broke the quiet that had fallen over the room. “It’s already over. What’s done is done.”

Shouyou grimaced and pushed himself up, resting his weight on the arm without the shoulder sprain. “Yeah, I know that, but _still_. Just because it’s already happened doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have turned around and went to your house, Bakageyama!”

“No, it doesn’t,” Kageyama actually agreed, putting his pencil down and turning to Shouyou with one of his piercing looks. It was more calculating, though, rather than one of his scathing, angry looks. “But knowing that doesn’t change what happened. You should focus more on getting better than the what-ifs, dumbass.”

“But–”

“Stop,” Kageyama’s tone actually made Shouyou pause, but he looked like he wasn’t sure what he wanted to say. Shouyou waited a few minutes before opening his mouth again, but then he continued. “It doesn’t do any good to keep beating yourself up over it. It’s over. It’s done. And now you’ve got to worry about recovering so you can get back to practice and help us get to Nationals again.”

“You guys will make it there without me,” Shouyou slumped forward, frowning a little at the words coming out of his own mouth, even if he thought they were true. “You’ve got Tanaka, and Noya, and even if he’s an asshole you’ve got Tsukishima, too. And then you’ve got–”

“And everyone will have to work ten times as hard to make up for our missing decoy,” Kageyama interjected, scowling. “Don’t undersell how important you are, dumbass. It’s going to be hard to make it through without you, so don’t do anything that will keep you out for longer than you have to be.”

Shouyou’s throat was tight. Hearing Kageyama say something like that, about how important he was to the team, was pretty touching. But it also made his chest ache for other reasons that he tried not to think about, even though Kageyama made it hard to ignore them.

“We can’t do it without you.”

He jerked his attention back to Kageyama to meet that piercing stare, but Kageyama turned away first, color high in his cheeks. Shouyou’s breathing stuttered and he coughed, tearing his own eyes away. His coughs made his ribs hurt, so a whine escaped immediately after.

Kageyama pushed to his feet. “The bathroom cabinet, right?”

He didn’t wait for Shouyou’s answer, but was back only a few moments later with a glass of water and one of Shouyou’s painkillers.

“You’re the best,” Shouyou wheezed, accepting them without another word.

The color rose high in Kageyama’s cheeks again, but Shouyou figured he was seeing things. Kageyama only blushed over good volleyball plays and if he was praised by someone he really respected...which was usually also volleyball related.

It would be nice, though, if Kageyama blushed over him.

“Don’t hurt yourself, dumbass,” he shot back, and Shouyou snorted. Back to the name calling, it seemed.

“Ah, I knew that you being nice to me was too good to last!” Shouyou whined dramatically, once he’d finished the water. “Being all nice and sweet. I could have gotten used to it, you know!”

“I’m always nice to you,” Kageyama scowled. “Dumbass.”

“Uh-huh,” Shouyou raised an eyebrow and Kageyama averted his gaze again. “Being called a dumbass really gets the love across.”

Oh.

 _Oh no_.

The phrase practically tumbled out before he could think better of it–but it was just a tease, a joke, so maybe Kageyama would ignore it and they could go back to their banter like normal. But that seemed unlikely when color rose, once again, to Kageyama’s cheeks.

 _Kageyama doesn’t blush because of me_ , Shouyou reminded himself, but he felt his own face starting to burn and he didn’t know exactly how to feel about that, either.

“Well, what am I supposed to call you, then?” Kageyama demanded, but Shouyou could tell he was fishing for something, _anything_ , to break the silence.

“I have a _name_ , Bakageyama!” Shouyou shot back more quickly than he anticipated.

 _Hinata_ , he almost declared boldy, _Hinata Shouyou_ , but…

“ _Shouyou_ ,” the setter said, and now Shouyou couldn’t deny that it had something to do with the color on his cheeks. “There. Now stop calling me _Bakageyama_!”

He could feel his own face on fire even as he retorted, “Fine then. How’s _Tobio_?”

Another thing Shouyou never expected was for Kageyama to groan and drop his face in his palms. His cheeks, his ears, and even his neck were red, and Shouyou wondered if they’d be hot to the touch like his own felt.

“It’s...fine,” Kageyama croaked. “Y-yeah, T-Tobio’s fine.”

Shouyou froze, and if possible, his own blush got worse. “O-okay then. Sh-Shouyou’s fine too, Bakage– _Tobio_!”

“Go–good.”

“Done.”

They both fell quiet and avoided meeting each other’s eyes, but Shouyou could feel the weird tension in the air. He kind of wanted to say something, and lifted his head to maybe start, but he saw that Kageyama– _Tobio_ –was looking at him, too. He ducked his head quickly and Shouyou turned to the side, his heart racing, and suddenly he wondered if, just maybe, he had more of a chance than he thought he did.

He wanted to reach out and hold Tobio’s hand, if he’d let him, but he figured maybe that would be too much for both of them tonight. Not to mention that his painkiller would be making him drowsy soon, and he was afraid he’d be too distracted and say something weird if he let himself that close right now.

“You should get in the bed,” Tobio murmured after a long stretch of silence. “I’ll get the futon and roll it out myself. You should rest.”

“Okay,” Shouyou answered, his voice equally as soft. And then he added, “Thanks, Tobio.”

 _Tobio_. He loved the way the name rolled off his tongue.

He only got a hum of acknowledgement in response, but that was enough. He pulled himself up off the floor, ignoring the momentary pain in his shoulder, and scrambled into his bed behind him even as Tobio reentered the room with the futon his mother kept in the hall closet. The setter had been over often enough that it didn’t even come as a surprise that he knew where pretty much everything was.

Shouyou shifted carefully to his side in bed, watching as Tobio rolled out the futon and then slid over to turn off the light. Only then did he seem to realize that he was being watched, and he looked back at Shouyou. This time, he held eye contact longer, and offered a lopsided smile at him. Shouyou’s heart squeezed.

“Go to sleep,” Tobio instructed, preparing to sleep himself. Shouyou hummed, but dangled his arm–the one without his shoulder sprain–over the edge of the bed.

After a long moment, another warm hand clasped it, briefly, before Tobio dropped it back to the midst of his own covers.

“G’night, _Tobio_ ,” he mumbled, though he wasn’t sure he’d be able to sleep now.

“Night.” And after a long pause, in a softer voice, “ _Shouyou_.”

The last thing Shouyou remembered thinking that night, before he slipped into his dreams, was that maybe getting hit by a car had been worth it for the chance to see this softer side of Kageyama Tobio.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!!!
> 
> For the second time in the whopping two fics I've written for Haikyuu!! my plot got away from me again. Something that was just gonna be a casual oneshot where Kageyama went to comfort Hinata in the hospital and fluffy shit ensued turned into almost 9K of whatever this is. Whoops??
> 
> Hit me up on my HQ sideblog at [karasun013](http://karasun013.tumblr.com) or my main multifandom/personal at [panda013](http://panda013.tumblr.com)!


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